How To Record EVP

Do you want to know how to capture electronic voice phenomena (EVP)? It’s a valuable skill to have for anyone interested in the paranormal. That’s because many amazing and valuable paranormal phenomena make themselves known through sound. These spirits and phenomena are very real, if only we know how to hear them.

Why You Should Learn How To Record EVP

Making an EVP recording is very beneficial. EVP is electronic voice phenomena, mysterious sounds coming to us from beyond. We don’t necessarily know where these sounds are coming from, exactly, just that they’re coming from somewhere, maybe other dimensions, spirits of the dead, anywhere.

What’s important is to capture them. Using the steps below, learning how to record EVP will be easy for you. Here’s what you do:

Get a good recorder

A digital voice recorder is the best way to go. You can get low quality recorders for as little as $40. Though I suggest getting something in the range of $150 – $200. Cheap versions are ok but the higher quality versions are more sensitive and so clear you’ll capture voices and phenomena that will leave you speechless.

When I was learning how to record EVP, I started with something cheap. But when I tried out a high quality recorder it blew my mind, haha.

Have you ever listened to your favorite song on low quality earphones or speakers and thought, “This sounds great!”. But then you tried something higher quality and suddenly you were hearing noises you didn’t even know were in the song?

You were probably thinking, “Holy shit, this is a whole new song now!” haha. That’s what it’s like to use a higher quality digital recorder. Except with more chills and spine tingles from the discoveries you’ll make.

Definitely don’t use old-school cassette recorders because they produce little whines from the wheels moving.

Set a goal for the interview

If you are trying to contact a certain spirit, one of the best paths in learning how to record EVP can be to prepare that spirit. Invoking it, asking it to make itself known, is often very effective.

Now, you can’t predict or plan what sort of sound might arise, but if you have some idea of what you’re looking for, that is helpful.

That might lead you to particularly good locations such as cemeteries, haunted rooms, high-energy centers, etc. Again, you’ll probably be surprised by what you find, but that doesn’t mean you can’t set out with some plan.

Select a quiet location

Knowing exactly how to record EVP in a particular instance is a bit tricky. The wondrous and mystical sounds drift in from all angles—they don’t need quiet. But your recording needs some quiet—you never know when background noise that comes up will jump right on a whisper from a ghost and obscure it, etc.

This doesn’t mean you have to find some sealed off room or a completely quiet location. But it should allow general quiet, with minimal background noise. You don’t want traffic, barking dogs, frequent child noise, etc. These things will make it just too difficult to record EVP effectively.

Begin recording

Have your recorder in your hand or sitting on a ledge or countertop. Try not to move it much during the recording because that will cause a whooshing sound that could obscure ambient EVP.

As you gain experience it will be easier to tell what’s EVP and what is outside noise. But when you’re first learning how to record EVP, try to remove all ambient noise.

Ask questions as necessary

It’s been proven that EVP voices do respond to questions. Some investigators ask if there are spirits nearby, if they have anything they’d like to say to the world, etc. In fact, if you’re with someone else, it’s OK to make a few comments from time to time.

Just leave nice pockets of silence to record EVP voices that may come up. Many investigators have observed that spirit voices actually respond to comments made by people.

Listen to the recording

In your process of learning how to record EVP, give yourself time for playback after each session. The best method for doing this is with good quality headphones. The best type to get are the “can” type that cover the ears, usually with plastic or metal bands going up over the head.

These cancel outside noise the best, creating an environment in which you can hone in on the sounds nicely. It’s absolutely crucial that you not hear anything that is going on around you that is listening.

Also, only headphones can allow you to truly separate ambient noise in the recording from actual EVP. There’s a very good chance that your recording will pick up the spare bird chirp, hammer ring, engine rumble, etc. There’s a good chance you didn’t even hear these when they were happening.

That might make you think that these could possibly be EVP, and that could frustrate you while learning how to record EVP.

Analyze your findings

If you have voices on the recording, these are quite clear as EVP. However, other sounds like moans or hums might be harder to interpret. Some of these may, upon closer examination, turn out to be words, phrases, or intelligible communication of some kind.

One thing that will help you after you’ve followed the previous steps of how to record EVP is to have other people listen to it. Choose people you trust. Talk about what you’ve found. Don’t be too eager to find certain things when you’re learning how to record EVP.

Try to get into a situation in which both you and your second opinion person are in agreement about a particular recorded sound.

Download

In addition to carefully listening and re-listening, it can be a good idea to download your recordings, which your recorder will be capable of. That might make the listening better because of the sound system of your computer (still use headphones).

This will also allow for you to filter out some background noise and make some adjustments to the tone that will allow you to hear properly. Obviously, these adjustments can’t create sounds that aren’t already there—they’d just make things clear.

Keep a log

Either electronically or on a sheet of paper, another step in how to record EVP is to keep a log of what you’ve found. Write down the point in time of the recording at which you heard a particular voice or sound of some kind, with a brief identification of that sound.

After you have some library of recorded EVP, you can be in a good place to get a sense of what they might add up to. You now know how to properly record EVP, so using the correctly-recording things you’ve collected, you can now analyze them.

You’ve already shared some of the recordings with some trusted friends. Once you’ve downloaded the recordings you can share them online if you’d like. But, share or not, you know how to record EVP, and this will make your process of discovery more meaningful and explicit.

Tips

Work at night. Capturing EVP is not only more fun at night, but it’s also easier, especially when you’re first learning how to record EVP. This is because it’s quieter so it’s easier to tell what’s EVP and what is just outside noise.

Set it down. You can stay in the room with your recorder but place the recorder on something stable. This prevents false EVP that’s due to the sound of your hands or body movement.

Share your EVP. Have you captured what you believe to be good quality EVP? If so, think about sharing it with like-minded people. In fact, share it with us. Your EVP may be featured in an upcoming article! If you have an EVP that you’d like to share with us, send it to: paranormal@backpackerverse.com

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